Coaching the Whole Educator

What if “we learn from our mistakes” is only half true? In this episode of Coaching the Whole Educator, Becca Silver talks with Dr. Doug Fisher, professor and chair of educational leadership at San Diego State University and a teacher leader at Health Sciences High and Middle College, about success-oriented learning and what it means for instructional coaching. We’ve all heard that mistakes are op...

Episode Summary What if the scripted curriculum we hand new teachers is the very thing burning them out? In this episode of Coaching the Whole Educator, Becca Silver talks with Bob Lenz, CEO of PBLWorks, about how project-based learning (PBL) helps early career teachers thrive instead of just surviving, and why school systems built for consistency keep pulling innovative teachers back into complia...

You've modeled it, co-planned it, and practiced it side by side, and it's still not showing up in the classroom. In this Resistance Solution Mini-Session, Becca Silver reads from Chapter 2 of The Resistance Solution on why more PD and more modeling often miss the mark. Coaches and school leaders get one question to ask before their next coaching move. In this episode: Why resistance ofte...

What happens when a new school leader tries so hard to meet everyone’s expectations that they stop leading like themselves? In this episode of Coaching the Whole Educator, Becca Silver talks with Joshua Stamper, author of Aspire to Lead and host of the Aspire to Lead podcast, about perseverance, adversity, and the quiet ways aspiring leaders slip into compliance while trying to prove they belong....

Ever leave a coaching conversation feeling great about the advice you gave, only to come back a week later and find nothing has changed? You're not alone, and it's probably not the teacher's fault. In this episode, Becca sits down with her friend and colleague coaching master Chrissy Beltran, known to many as Buzzing with Ms. B, to unpack why coaching conversations so often go nowhe...

The strategy everyone nodded along to in August? It's thriving in one classroom and missing in action next door. And that eye roll from the back of the room is still living rent-free in your head. In this first episode of Solution Sessions, a new weekly segment of Coaching the Whole Educator, Becca reads the opening pages of The Resistance Solution and names what most leaders feel but rarely...

Send us Fan Mail  What if the colleague you've been describing as "quirky" is the most underused talent in your building?  In this episode of Coaching the Whole Educator, Becca Silver sits down with Justin Permenter of NDI Institute to talk about building workplaces where neurodivergent educators, coaches, and leaders can perform, contribute, and lead without lowering expectations....

Send us Fan Mail Ever notice how the same piece of feedback lands beautifully with one person on your team and completely bombs with another? Robyn Jackson is back, and this time we're digging into Will Drivers, her framework for the four things that motivate every human being: mastery, purpose, belonging, and autonomy. Here's the twist. Each driver comes with its own core question runni...

Send us Fan Mail  * *Join the Resistance Solution Facebook Community** https://www.facebook.com/share/g/19TRR5VfpX/ Danny Bauer of Better Leaders Better Schools joins Becca Silver to unpack self mentorship, why traditional PD falls short, and how to become a ruckus maker.  Most professional development follows the same script: someone else decides what educators need to learn, when they need to le...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, Becca sits down with instructional coaching and lesson planning expert Lori Cohen (co-author of The PD Book ) to talk about her new book, The Science of Lesson Planning , and what transformative lesson design can teach coaches and school leaders about building psychological safety in schools. They dig into psychological safety, the difference between coaching and...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, Becca sits down with Jennifer Abrams, author of five books on adult-to-adult communication in schools including Having Hard Conversations and Stretching Your Learning Edges , for a conversation on hard conversations, school culture, and adult development in education.  Topics covered in this episode:  The difference between resistance and a hard conversation, and...

Send us Fan Mail What if the pushback you're getting from teachers isn't about the initiative at all, but about a hidden cultural mismatch in how your school defines belonging? In this episode of Coaching the Whole Educator, Becca Silver sits down with Dr. Sheldon Eakins, author of Meaningful Classroom Management , What Are You Bringing to the Potluck? , and Leading Equity , to explore a...

Send us Fan Mail  In this episode of Coaching the Whole Educator , Becca Silver explores the hidden costs schools and districts pay when resistance is misunderstood. She calls it the resistance tax : the quiet drain on resources, relationships, and results that happens when leaders respond to resistance with pressure, compliance, or more accountability instead of understanding what is driving it....

Send us Fan Mail What if one of the biggest missing pieces in teacher retention is how we support mentor teachers? In this episode, Becca talks with John Pascarella , professor of clinical education at USC and Chief Academic Officer of the USC Race and Equity Center, about why mentor teachers are often asked to support new teachers without the training, role clarity, compensation, or coaching they...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode of Coaching the Whole Educator , Becca Silver talks with Principal Kafele about what happens when high expectations meet resistance in schools and how leaders can respond without slipping into compliance-driven leadership. Together, they explore how school leaders can create a true culture of high expectations , not by demanding instant transformation, but by helpi...

Send us Fan Mail  What does The Resistance Solution actually look like in a real school? In this episode, Chrystin Sheffield shares how the book transformed the way she leads. She talks about how it helped her: • Stop taking teacher resistance personally and start diagnosing what's really driving it • Navigate difficult conversations with less frustration and more confidence • Give walkthroug...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, Becca sits down with Jessica Werner, founder of North Shore Learning, to unpack a hard truth in schools: many leaders believe they understand staff well-being, but are relying on assumptions instead of real data. Together, they explore how well-being, retention, and leadership decisions are deeply connected and why anecdotal signals like “people seem happy” or “no...

Send us Fan Mail Okay y’all… this episode is basically what happens when two people who are deeply obsessed with leadership, resistance, ownership, and human behavior finally hit “record.” 😂 Becca sits down with leadership expert Casey Watts to celebrate the release of The Resistance Solution … but the conversation quickly turns into a deep, real-time exploration of what actually causes resistanc...

Send us Fan Mail [FREE] Find Your Resistance Type Quiz : Find out the type of resistance you are navigating In this episode of Coaching the Whole Educator , Becca sits down with Jason Adair from the Southern Regional Education Board to explore what actually makes instructional coaching effective in schools. Together, they unpack SREB’s new Powerful Coaching Practices framework and discuss why so m...

Send us Fan Mail Grab the RESISTANCE PLAYBOOK for only $7 HERE .   Discover a conversation unlike any you’ve heard before as Dr. Courtney Tate joins Becca Silver to shine a spotlight on the real challenges and triumphs experienced by Black women in instructional coaching. This episode pulls back the curtain on the unseen emotional workload, the navigation of daily microaggressions, and the relentl...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode of Resistance Chronicles , Becca Silver unpacks a coaching mistake many instructional coaches and school leaders make at the end of the school year: trying to solve exhausted teachers instead of helping them feel understood first. When teachers are overwhelmed, emotionally drained, and running on fumes, even well-intentioned coaching strategies can accidentally cre...

Send us Fan Mail Grab the RESISTANCE PLAYBOOK for only $7 HERE .   Change isn’t something school leaders do on the side. It is the work. In this episode, former principal and author Richard Gerver joins Becca to dig into why adults in schools resist change even though change and learning go hand in hand. They talk about why veteran teachers often push back the most, how forcing change shuts down c...

Send us Fan Mail Resistance Chronicles, Part 5: Ownership Mindset™ [FREE] Find Your Resistance Type Quiz : Find out the type of resistance you are navigating  (previously called The Resistance Audit) In the final episode of The Resistance Chronicles, Becca Silver explores the Ownership Mindset and the form of resistance that often sounds like disengagement but is rooted in belief. It can sound lik...

Send us Fan Mail [FREE] Find Your Resistance Type Quiz : Find out the type of resistance you are navigating  (previously called The Resistance Audit) Are you an instructional coach or principal navigating endless data, tough decisions, and nonstop demands? In this can’t-miss episode, visionary school leader David Richards reveals why intuition is your greatest untapped superpower, and how masterin...

Send us Fan Mail Resistance Chronicles, Part 4: Growth Mindset [FREE] Catalyst Mindset Overview Graphic [Printable] In this episode, Becca Silver explores how resistance shows up when the belief “I can improve” feels unsupported. Growth requires effort, feedback, and struggle. When those experiences feel risky or tied to judgment, educators naturally protect themselves. This form of resistance is...